Preservative free, no artificial additives, organic and bio dynamic are a few of many terms thrown around the media and marketed relentlessly today.
Do consumers really care about where their food comes from and what goes into it? Maybe so, the organic industry is booming. Many wine producers are making the move over to organic production but the majority still seem to have their blinkers on, thinking this shift in consumer consciousness doesn't apply to their product.
Preservatives, in an organic wine that's outrageous! or so I've been told many times. Organic winemakers are permitted to add up to 125mg/L total Sulphur Dioxide to table wine which stops oxidation and spoilage microbes taking hold. In Australia, certified organic does not mean preservative free this is a common misconception.
As SO2 is a natural by product of fermentation all wines contain it at some point during production. Preservative free wines in Australia must not contain more than 10mg/L total SO2.
During red fermentation SO2 produced is bound by the skins and conveniently taken out with the marc at pressing. Preservative free whites don't have this luxury and are more prone to showing oxidation faults. So the risk during production increases, but where there's a will there's a way. It is possible to make preservative free whites without oxidation faults.
Setting the style - these wines are different in production and therefore different in style to conventionally produced wines. Striking a balance between risk minimisation and traditional wine making is the key to making a quality preservative free wine. For example, over filtration results in a stripped wine, under filtration results in wine spoilage.
Sure, I know it's a niche but it is growing fast. When lined up with conventional wines a preservative free wine looks quite different. So why do they sell? Is it all marketing hype or are people concerned about what goes into their food?
Sure, I know it's a niche but it is growing fast. When lined up with conventional wines a preservative free wine looks quite different. So why do they sell? Is it all marketing hype or are people concerned about what goes into their food?
Fascinating post. Thanks for providing those guidelines. You've helped save me a lot of research!
ReplyDeleteI'm probably of little use in answering the questions you raise in the last paragraph. I think a lot of people who are in the market for this sort of wine are more than partially there out of concern for what goes into their bodies.
The problem is finding the time to become educated, and not mistakenly believing that certified "organic means preservative free". Or even whether preservative free is big deal or not. And I stress the finding the time bit. Everone is way too busy & stressed. I can hardly blame the consumer for their misconception, but more posts like this, which outline things in a clear way, the better for the consumer.
Having said that, I reckon fashion is always playing its part. It's fashionable to be concerend with what goes into your body. You may also care, but society is telling you that you SHOULD care, it's your obligation.
Why? Well firstly, our health system is screwed so the more we "look after" ourselves, the less those that send the messages out have to pay for. Fair enough, but it's still a fashionable dictate, if you will.
Fashion is pushing towards blurring the lines between doing something out of a desire for better health and doing something so that you look good. Thus, preservative free, organic, sustainable, green, healthy are call being conflated with more frustrating things such as body image. Foucalt was right. Personal subjectivity is the battleground and now politicians, marketers and industries have woken up to that fact. They don't care about health primarily, they care about money. And thus, we are left with a mess.
cheers
jeremy